Combined vacuum pick up and printer



Jan. 23, 1962 Re. BROWN 3,017,829

COMBINED VACUUM PICK UP AND PRINTER Filed June 17, 1960 sucr/o/v v7SOURCE INVENTOR Roer? G. Brown United States Patent 3,017,829 COMBINEDVACUUM PICK UP AND PRINTER Robert G. Brown, Clarksville, Mtl., assignor,by mesne assignments, to Rabinow Engineering Co., Inc, Rockville, Md., acorporation of Maryland Filed June 17, 1960, Ser. No. 36,804 Claims.(Cl. 101-327) This invention relates to article transport devices andparticularly to pick up devices provided with means to surface code thearticles handled thereby.

There are numerous article handling procedures and equipment whereindividual articles must be displaced. More specifically, the articlesmay be fed into a machine by mechanical transport devices, removed froma machine, or be handled as an intermediate step within the operation ofa machine or group of machines. It is often necessary or desirable toapply a mark of one kind or another on the articles. Such marks may befor coding, identification, or for other purposes.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a transportdevice with means for marking the articles as they are being handled bythe transport device.

U.S. Patent No. 2,792,219 issued to F. Van Marle discloses mail handlingequipment having a pickup which pneumatically retains a letter on theface of a head as it is being displaced from one position to another.Under some operating conditions, it is desirable to mark the letterssomewhere along the line of travel from the input to the output of themachine.

Rabinow Patent No. 2,912,925 discloses a code printing and sortingstation for mail wherein a pneumatic pickup transport moves letters froma pickup position to a printing station, at which a separate printermakes an impression on the letters prior to directing them to individualpockets. The Rabinow patent requiresv separate sequential transport andprinting procedures.

Another object of this invention is to simplify and unify thetransporting and printing procedures on articles which are displaced bya pneumatic pickup. This is accomplished by having a marking device, forinstance a printer, incorporated as a part of, or attached to, thepneumatic pickup. An inherent advantage flowing from such an arrangementis that the same suction to hold the article adhered to the face of thepickup head, is used to draw the article against the face of theprinting device so that a clear impression is made during transit time.

Although the Rabinow patent is referred to as one in stance wherein aseparate printing operation may be combined with a transport procedure,another problem is solved by the invention. Some equipment is manuallycontrolled, and it is desirable to know the identity of the operator ofthe equipment handling specific work. In one form of the invention theprinting face is made easily removable and replaceable so that theoperator of the equipment may insert his identifying printing face inthe pickup when the operator begins to use the machine.

One of the features of the invention is that the technique disclosedherein may be successfully used with letter mail. Many envelopes are ofdifferent textures, configuration, and degree of mtultilation. Byrelying on suction to pull at least the outer layer of the envelopefirmly against the face of the head, the region of the envelopeimmediately adjacent to the printing face is drawn tightly against theprinting face, thereby obtaining a good impression even if the envelopeis wrinkled or otherwise rnultilated. Furthermore, if there is an objectof considerable thickness in the envelope, for instance a coin or key,the front layer of the envelope is pulled against the printing face fromthe front of the envelope to obtain a full impres-sion regardless of thepresence of the coin which may be directly behind the printing face.

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Other objects and features of importance will become apparent infollowing the description of the illustrated form of the invention.

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view showing the article transport andprinter in a typical application.

FIGURE 2 is a bottom perspective view of the head of the transport andprinter.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the printer installedin the head.

FIGURE 4 is an exploded perspective view of the printer.

In the accompanying drawing, attention is invited to FIG. 1 showing agroup of articles 10, e.g. letters, on a supporting surface 12. Apneumatically operative and mechanically moved article transport 14 isshown operatively related to the articles Ill. The transport is a pickup device such as referred to in the Rabinow patent and disclosed in theVan Marle patent, and is composed of a swinging arm 15 having a suctionpassageway registered with head to at the outer end of the arm. A source17 of suction is communicated with the passageway in the arm. Articlesit) are removed from the head 16 by being stripped therefrom asdisclosed in the Van Marle patent either or without momentarilyrelieving the vacuum, or by momentarily opening a vent valve such asvalve 18 interposed in the suction line between the source and thetransport. If a valve is used, it may be mechanically or electricallyoperated by or with movement of arm 15, as shown by the dotted line inFIG. 1.

Head 16 has-a suction chamber 26, and the head is preferably made ofrubber or some other resilient substance. The head has a wall 22 whoseouter surface is an article engaging surface which is provided withopenings 24 and 26 communicating with chamber 20. My invention providesa marking unit 28 which is preferably a printing unit. The unit iscarried directly by the head 16 and consists of casing 30 having agroove 32 near the lower open end thereof and into which a circular key34 is fitted. The key may be an integral part of the head, and itspurpose is to attach the casing 30 to the head. A support member such assleeve 36, is separably mounted in the casing 34 and is held in placesuitably, for instance by cap 38 threaded or otherwise secured to thecasing 30. Shoulder 45) on sleeve as seats upon another shoulder incasing 30 to cooperate with cap 38 in holding the sleeve in a fixedposition with respect to the casing 30.

Printing face 42 is formed at one end of the sleeve 36 and is located atapproximately the same level as surface 22, protruding only slightlytherefrom. The printing face is at one end of a unique printingsubstance 44 contained in sleeve 35. Substance 44 has served the purposefor which it is intended very well although other forms of a codingmaterial supply may be resorted to. I prefer to use a product known asPorelon which is the trademark of S. C. Johnson & Co., Inc, for amicro-porous, micro-reticulated plastic composition made under U.S.Patent No. 2,777,824. This substance, when used in accordance with tiesuggestions of the manufacturer, provides a self-contained reservoir ofprinting material, and may be molded to a specific shape toform aprinting face such as face 42. In use, the liquid in the substance feedsto the printing face by capillary action. Although a numeral has beenshown as the face, it is evident that any kind of a mark may be used.

There are one or more suction openings 46 (FIGURE 2) provided in wall 22adjacent to face 42. The openings 46 register with chamber 26 so thatthere is a localized region of high suction near the printing face. Thepurpose is to make certain that the part of the letter envelope adjacentto the printing face is tenaciously drawn against the printing face 42to obtain a good impression on the envelope. The number andconfiguration of openings 46 may be varied.

The use and operation of the article transport and printer has alreadybeen discussed. However, it is to be .understood that even thoughletters are identified as the articles handled by the pickup, otherarticles may be handled such as sheets, panels, packages, etc. Further,,unit 28 is shown installed as a separate component in the head 16. Thisis unnecessary in that the head may be molded or otherwise constructedwith a holder as an integral part thereof, and only the face assemblymade of substance 44 and its sleeve 36 made removable. Numerous othervariations and uses falling within the scope of the following claims maybe resorted to. For instance, it is common to date and/ or batch codelabels for medicines, vitamins, etc., before they are applied to theampules, bottles or other containers. My invention materiallyfacilitates this procedure by coding the labels while they are beingtransported in the course .of machine handling.

I claim:

1. In combination, a pneumatic transfer device having a fiat surface forarticle contact, a suction passageway opening through said surface toprovide a suction opening, and a self-contained printing unit includinga printing substance supply secured to said device and having a printingface held immovable with respect to said surface, and said face beingdisposed near said surface to be engaged by the article attracted to thesurface.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein there is an additional suctionopening in said head near said face to provide a localized region ofhigh suction attraction on the article.

3. In a movable device to pick up an article from a suppply and totransfer the article from one location to another, a pickup head havingan article contacting surface providing an essentially fiat area for thearticle, said head having an article attracting suction opening in saidsurface for article pick up, suction producing means communicating withsaid opening through said head to attract the article to said surface,and hold the article flush against the surface during pick up andtransfer, a self-contained ink supply and printing face, and meanssupporting said face approximately flush with said surface so that whenan article is picked up by suction and adhered to said surface by thesame suction to be displaced by movement of said device, the article ispressed against said face by the said suction.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein said means supporting said face includea support attached to said head, and

'4 a member separably connected to said support and containing aprinting substance, said face beingcomposed of a portion of saidprinting substance protruding beyond a part of said member.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein the portion of said head defining saidsurface is resilient, and said surface has a suction opening adjacent tosaid printing face to provide a localized region of high attraction onthe article to press the article against said printing face.

6. In a machine to transfer articles of mail having flexible portionsfrom one position to another wherein the machine has a movable pneumaticpickup provided with a suction head, the improvement comprising a.printing unit connected to said suction head and capable of thousands ofimpressions without servicing said unit, said unit constituting theentire printing means and having a support, a printing face secured tosaid support and held approximately flush with the article retentionsurface of said head so that the head suction draws a flexible portionof he article against said face for making a printing impression on thearticle while it is in transit, and a substance in said supportcontaining a copious supply of ink, said face being made of a part ofsaid substance.

7. The subject matter of claim 6 wherein said substance is micro-porousand micro-reticulated with the ink flow achieved by capillary action.

8. The subject matter of claim 7 wherein said support has'a membercontaining said substance, and said member is removable from the headfor replacement with another member having a different face.

9. In a pneumatic device to pick up and transfer articles from one placeto another by the suction of a suction source, a pick up head connectedwith said source and having walls defining a suction chamber, one ofsaid walls being resilient and essentially flat to provide a contactarea for an article, a self-contained printing unit, and means securingsaid self-contained unit to said head for movement therewith, said unithaving a face approximately flush with said contact area, and saidresilient wall having a suction opening therein to attract and hold thearticle during pick up and transfer.

10. The device of claim 9 wherein said resilient wall has means,additional to said suction opening, near said unit face to draw the.portion of the article at said face against the face to assure a goodprinting impression.

Wysong June 7, 1921 Leeds Jan. 15, 1957

